Review of Next Friday (2000) by Jason D — 09 Sep 2009

Next Friday is the follow-up sequel to the hugely popular original Friday that has Craig (the returning Ice Cube, who also wrote) moving in with his rich Uncle Leroy (Don "DC" Curtis, whose funny), his wife (Kym Whitley, also funny), and cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps, in his breakthrough role) after word hits the streets that Debo (returning Tiny Lister) has broken out of jail and seeking revenge on Craig.

Craig starts to realize that even though he's moved on up to the rich neighborhood, he still hasn't quite left the "hood", especially when him and Day-Day go up against the neighbors, a group of crazy Cholos.

Overall, Next Friday was a weak sequel for me. The biggest disappointment was losing Chris Tucker (who was now content playing more family friendly roles) and replacing him with Mike Epps (whose own brand of comedy I just wasn't quite getting at the time).

While Epps has increasingly gotten funnier and more entertaining to watch over the years, he's a bit annoying and a tough pill to swallow in this film. Combine that with a less than engaging story and a supporting cast that is great and acting poorly and terrible at being funny.

The highlights of the film are Curry, Whitley, and returning John Witherspoon who probably supply the most funny moments of the movie. Next Friday is easily the weakest in the franchise, but not bad enough to give a terrible rating to as it was still a much better movie that the huge barrage of low-budget black comedies to come out that year and the years to follow.